Improving Achievement Gap Across Indonesian High Schools in the Digital Age

• In Event: Academic achievements and the role of foreign aid

Proposal

The first decades of the 21st century are the intersection of a turn of millennium and rapid technological change. In Indonesia, this transition is reflected in the creation and implementation of the Merdeka Belajar (Independent Learning) Curriculum, which emphasizes 21st-Century Skills –critical thinking, flexibility, student autonomy, and the cultivation of values rooted in Pancasila—the nation’s foundational philosophical ideology.

Central to this curriculum is the Pancasila Student Profile, which encapsulates the ideals of Indonesian education: fostering students who are globally aware, independent, collaborative, creative, capable of critical thinking, and grounded in strong moral character. The definitions of these goals were formally set through a Ministerial Decree of the Ministry of Education of Indonesia No 22/2020 as graduate learning outcomes for each schooling level. Merdeka Belajar is implemented nationally, involving more than 3.3 million teachers, 46 million students, and 430 thousand schools which are managed by 554 local governments across the K-12 ecosystem.

This paper explores the implementation of critical thinking skills, one of the core elements in Indonesia’s Pancasila Student Profile framework within the Merdeka Belajar Curriculum. It examines both the opportunities and challenges faced by public elementary school teachers in navigating their teaching methods and classroom dynamics to foster a culture of critical thinking among students, both inside and outside of classrooms.

The digital age presents both opportunities and challenges for education systems worldwide, mandating a new set of competencies for learners. Indonesia is no exception and has invested heavily in the development of a curriculum that highlights student character development as well as the cognitive, social, and emotional competencies required for students to succeed.. The Merdeka Belajar reform aims to empower students with the freedom to explore, innovate, and grow holistically, guided by the values of Pancasila. Additionally, there are concerns about the preparedness of educators such as teachers to facilitate effective student learning in the classroom.

The Pancasila Student Profile seeks to address these challenges by encouraging project-based learning that aligns with students' local and global contexts. Yet there is a great variation in teacher’s effectiveness in cultivating critical thinking skills, one of the Pancasila student profiles, amongst public elementary school students. This challenge forms the basis of this study.

Through a systematic review of literature related to the implementation of critical thinking curricula, character development education, 21st-century skill development, interdisciplinary teaching, as well as an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data related to the Merdeka Belajar Curriculum implementation, we identified key challenges faced by Indonesian public elementary school teachers including: 1) inconsistent understanding of the Pancasila student profile, particularly the critical thinking competency; 2) variation in implementation practices to teach critical thinking; 3) misaligned incentives for curriculum implementation across varying levels and branches of government; and 4) insufficient resources and support for implementation.

Based on these identified challenges, we outlined a number of corresponding policy options with the aim of enhancing teachers’ efficacy in implementing the Merdeka Belajar curriculum, focusing on teachers’ capacity to develop students’ critical thinking skills, in alignment with the Pancasila Student Profile. These policy options draw from a series of global best practices which have successfully enhanced teachers’ capacities to cultivate a range of competencies, particularly critical thinking, among learners. They include: 1) developing targeted training modules and communication tools to ensure a consistent understanding and interpretation of critical thinking in relation to the Merdeka Belajar Curriculum and Pancasila Student Profile; 2) revisiting the scope and role of various government stakeholders to review how they can better support teachers in understanding and implementing curricular reforms; and 3) leveraging technology tools, including the existing Merdeka Mengajar teacher application, as a means of conducting and disseminating relevant training and information to strengthen teachers’ capacity to teach critical thinking.

The policy options are evaluated along a number of criteria, including their feasibility, cost-efficiency, political buy-in, and effectiveness to surface the most well-rounded interventions for Indonesia and globally, in contexts with similar challenges and priorities for curriculum implementation. We outline trade-offs and key considerations to be made with regards to the three proposed policy interventions based on our review of secondary data as well as consultations with primary stakeholders, including teachers, the Indonesian Ministry of Education, and other relevant segments. This is to ensure that we recommend a set of policies that are practical and can realize significant improvements in teachers’ capacity to implement the Merdeka interdisciplinary curriculum, and cultivate the critical thinking competency of the Pancasila student profile.

Fostering critical thinking skills is a crucial priority in Indonesia, especially in a dynamic and evolving digital age. Developing this skill set at the elementary school level lays a strong foundation in cultivating future critical thinkers who will contribute nationally and globally. The Indonesian experience offers much to learn from, and will be relevant to other contexts that also share a commitment to strengthening teacher capacity, navigating curriculum reform, and developing 21st century skills in learners.

Authors

• Callysta Thony, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Kristi Ardiana, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Xian Hui Ang